A quiet lane near Azabu-juban Station in Minato, Tokyo. White walls and French windows intertwine like giant piano keys. Blue curtains sway above the sliding door on the corner. This is the entrance to Ninao Gelato (蜷尾家).

It’s four in the afternoon, and a middle-aged woman walks in with her child. They ask for a serving of oolong tea-flavored ice cream. “This is a rich suburb, like Tianmu in Taipei. There aren’t many tourists, so my customers are mostly local residents,” observes Hung Shu-chi (洪叔綺), general manager of the Ninao store in Azabu-juban.

Ninao’s home base on ZhengXing Street (正興街) in Tainan mainly caters to tourists, but here in Japan, founder Yu Lee (李豫) determined to create a friendly neighborhood ice cream shop. 

Photo by Ming-Tang Huang/CW

On a normal weekday afternoon, people from the community trickle in for a taste of Taiwanese ice. This is precisely what Lee wanted: “To soundlessly slide into Japanese life.”

Back when he invented the brand, he was enamored with Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa, and so he named his shop after her. It’s only fair that Ninao eventually made its way to Japan. “My goal is to soundlessly slide into Japanese life, to make Ninao the natural choice for anyone hankering for some ice cream.” 

In 2017, the loungewear brand Gelato Pique, part of the Japanese fashion giant Mash Holdings, opened a waffle shop in Taipei. They invited Ninao to co-brand with them. Imagine their surprise when sales of Ninao’s ice cream contributed seventy percent of their total revenue in the first few months!

The Alluring Taste of Taiwanese Tea

When the director of Mash’s restaurant arm heard of this, he flew straight to Taiwan to try a bite. He had the sea salt milk ice cream and found the flavor to be rich and creamy, unlike anything in Japan. Ninao’s tea-flavored ice cream was also unique. Since Taiwanese tea is in good standing in Japan, it was decided that Ninao would make a good fit in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Photo by Ming-Tang Huang/CW

The first Japanese store debuted near Sangen-Jaya Station in Setagaya, Tokyo. It attracted between 150 to 250 groups of customers every day. This July, two more shops opened in Azabu-juban and Ikebukuro. 

Lee says Mash Holdings spared no expense to make Ninao a success. “They invested over one hundred million Japanese yens to show their commitment.”

Ninao only sold two flavors of ice cream every day. “But the tea flavors sell better, especially Oriental Beauty, since Japanese customers are attracted by kanji (adopted Chinese characters),” says general manager Hung. They also sold Jiu Zhen Nan (舊振南) pineapple cakes and provided combo meals that matched pineapple cakes with drinks or ice cream. (Read: Taiwan Tea in Starbucks)

Yu Lee, founder of Ninao Gelato. (Photo by Kuo-Tai Liu/CW)

The funny thing is, Lee tried to create some local flavors but had little success. During the Japanese New Year, he tried to sell a new “red bean soup with alcohol” flavor, combined with grilled mochi. “I found the young people didn’t really like it. The Japanese market is fascinating, I’m still figuring things out,” says Lee ruefully. (Read: How Taiwanese Bubble Tea Conquered the Taste Buds of The Japanese)

The Key to Success is Good Quality

Lee confesses that attaching a Taiwanese brand to a western dessert like ice cream does little to help its success. In the end, the only path to victory is through good quality. (Read: Taiwanese Chocolate Seduces the World)

He recalls how he visited Kyoto for the first time shortly before starting his brand. He stood outside ice cream shops like a hungry child to watch them make ice cream. He discovered Japanese shops also mixed milk directly with tea powder. “That was when I knew we would be a hit. At Ninao, we very carefully measure all our ingredients. Milk, butter, sugar, and ice cream powder. We check everything and follow our formula to the letter.”

When asked about opening more shops, Lee says staff shortage is his biggest hurdle. Only the three general managers are full-time employees; the others are all part-time workers. Because only the general managers know the secret formulas, they hardly get any rest. 

Lee has one other dream: to produce packaged ice cream in Japan. “Japan has the best milk! I hope one day customers will be choosing between us and Häagen-Dazs.”

Taiwanese tea was his stepping-stone, but Lee wants to cultivate his corner of the Japanese market, just like any other local brand.

Ninao Gelato

• Founded/ On ZhengXing Street in Tainan in 2012; In Tokyo, Japan in 2018.
• Founder/ Yu Lee
• Specialty/ Taiwan-style tea-flavor ice cream, like oolong, Tieguanyin, green tea, Oriental Beauty, and others. 

Translated by Jack C.
Edited by Sharon Tseng